


Couldn't Save The World

by BookWerm



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Broken Bruce Banner, Broken Steve Rogers, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-03
Updated: 2018-10-03
Packaged: 2019-07-24 19:35:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16181765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BookWerm/pseuds/BookWerm
Summary: Bruce and Steve had a fight. Kind of. Mostly Bruce just insulted Bucky Barnes and Steve punches him in the face. They have a long hearty discussion.





	Couldn't Save The World

**Author's Note:**

> Happens after Infinity War. Can fit in with almost any of the stories I'm writing, including the A Letter to Tony Stark series and probably actual canon so far. Not with And The World Went On, obviously.

Steve ran up as if to see if he was alright, then stopped dead in his tracks, his senses returning.

"I'm so, so sorry, Dr. Banner. I don't know what came over me."

"I do." Bruce said with a bit of a laugh in his voice. It quickly turned serious. "I insulted your best friend. Who's dead. I deserve it."

"You alright? I didn't actually hurt you, did I?"

The scientist sat down and turned to stare at the bar counter wistfully. "You know, that sort of thing would have turned me green in an instant if you had caught me before India."

The little bit of disappointment, and the little spark of rage quickly drained out of Steve's face, instantly covered up by shame in a red flush. Bruce Banner wasn't just a soldier for him to throw out into the field in tech he had helped design. He wasn't just the easy way out that wasn't technically suicide. He was a civilian (albeit a hunted one), a scientific genius. He was an Avenger.

Steve Rogers needed to be Captain America today. He needed to be responsible, to help the world no matter how damaged it, or he, might be. He couldn't just go around punching physicists, no matter how much they deserved it.

"You didn't answer my question. Are you alright?"

"If I were bleeding, you'd know. I'm radioactive." After a hard stare from Steve, he added, "Yeah, I'm fine."

Steve Rogers sat down hesitantly in the seat right next to Bruce Banner, in a bar so empty it was eerie. 

"You know, I see him in my dreams, every night. Sometimes it's happy. But every single time he fades away, screaming, and I'm left with the realization that I- I couldn't save him." He stared off into the distance, not quite able to look at the man next to him. "I couldn't save the world."

The man who had spent too many years away from earth to call himself a scientist looked over. Looked over at the man who had spent too many years being hunted by the U.S. government to ever call himself "Captain America" again.

"You? You couldn't save the world?" His eyes almost burned with hatred. "I couldn't control my own body, get my ass off another  _ planet  _ in time. I was too busy helping Thor save his people -" Bruce's eyes went wide for a moment with something that looked a lot like shock and pain. When he started speaking again, the voice coming out of his mouth wasn’t quite the same. It was rougher. Raw. "Too busy watching all the people who I  _ thought _ I'd saved die in front of me, all because I wanted to stop being big and green and out of control for a second. And then when even my unstoppable alterego couldn't stop the fucking purple space alien, I got sent down to earth. Earth. To do nothing except disappoint and stumble over my own two feet, in a suit that I designed to help control my almost-self. My wreck of an alterego. The Hulk ran away from my life two years ago, and I've never gotten any of it back."

The silence hung in the air for seconds, that might have turned into minutes.

It felt like hours.

“I’m sorry. For all this, I guess. For whining like a little kid, throwing around blame with you, when Thanos is still  out there. I guess I’ve spent so long being the team leader, the one who has to be confident and peppy, never letting myself stop fighting, that I didn’t realize how bad it gets. I’m still sorry I broke down on you, but I get it now. I’m not a sob story, not anymore than the rest of us. We were all barely holding it together. And no matter whose fault it is, we all have to find him.”

The captain’s gaze turned introspective for a moment before he nodded. He stood up and started to walk out, but stopped right before the door. He turned to look over his shoulder at the smaller man’s back.

“I’m going somewhere. I don’t quite know where at the moment, but I have to do something, anything, rather than mope. Punch something that’s not your face. Talk to Shuri." 

For an instant a glimmer of light escaped the darkened windows, reflected in Steve's eyes. Reflected in the tears in Bruce's. 

"I basically live in the Wakandan palace nowadays. You’re welcome to join me any time… Bruce.”


End file.
